Vehicle wheel



Apr. 17, 1923.

11,451,867 c. DAHL.

VEHICLE WHEEL Filed Aug. 5, 1921 Patented Apr, l?,

CONRAD DAHL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOS, A SSIGNOR TO DONALD lili.. CAF/TER, TRUSTEE,

OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

VEHICLE 'WHEEL Application filed August 3, 1921.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, CONRAD DAHL, a citizen ot the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county ot Cook and State ot Illinois, have invented certain new and uset'ul Improvements in Vehicle l/Vheels, ot which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, 'forming a part thereof.

The purpose ot' this invention is to provide a wheel construction of sheet metal stampings which maybe cheaply constructed with accuracy having a high degree ot rigidity relatively to its weight. lt consists in the features and elements of construction shown and described, indicated in the claims. I

In the drawings :u

Figure l is a side elevation of a limited segment of a wheel embodying this invention.

Figure 2 is an axial section of the same.

Figure 3 is a detail section at the line, 5*3, on Figure l.

The wheel comprises two identically formed webs which are sheet metal stampings, each consisting of an annular peripheral area, l, which may have a small arcuate flange, l, for seating a tire, and a central annular area which in each oit the terms shown comprises a central boss, Q, and an annular tablet, ffl, encompassing' it less protruding than the boss, and radial spokes, ll, connecting the peripheral and central annular areas. rllhe stamping is in `general dished so as to cause the spokes, 4, to diverge from the plane of the peripheral annular area, l, at a relatively small angle. lllhen the two web members are assembled. with their two annular areas, l, lodged against each other and their central annular bosses Ylacing each other, by reason of the divergence of the spokes from the peripheral annular areas l, said central areas are definitely spaced apart and situated symmetrically with respect to the plane ot said peripheral annular areas, at which the two members are secured. together by rivets, 5, preferably one at the end of each spoke, and one halt way between each two consecutive spokes. The spokes are preferably stiffened by being;- transversely dished, most perterably in wide` V-shape as seen in Figure 3, the cavities of said dished or lil-shaped spokes opening inward, facing each other.

Serial No. 489,482.

Each central annular boss, 2, is designed to receive and hold securely with pressed lit, an inwardly-facing ball-race member, 6. Encompassing this boss, 2, as stated, there is an annular' tablet, 3, formed in the stamping` less protruding than theA boss, 2, and the apef.: or iiown ot the hollowed or dished spokes is Hush with the outer surface Ot this tablet, 3, the cavity ot the tablet merging in the cavity ot the spokes. This construction, interposing the tablet, 3, between the hollow lf-shaped or disbed spokes and the more protruding boss, 2, makes it possible to produce the stamping as shown with the maximum rigidity and strength at the junction of the spokes with the central area comprising the tablet, 3, and the ball-bearingcontaining boss, 2; and by this means I am able to obtain a wheel exceedingly stift and strong in proportion to its weight, the metal being in no respect weakened at any point in the stamping process. The wheel comprising the two assembled dished web members is constructed with a non-rotating axle within it, which,-not beingstrictly a part ott the wheel,--that is, not part of the rotating element,--nevertheless serves as a strut, two web members spaced apart at the center and converging toward the periphery as described This axle member consists ot a tube, 7, on whose opposite ends there are mounted identical ball-race members, 8,-- counterparts to the ball-race members, 6, which are. in pressed-in engagement with the bosses, F2, ot the wheel. rlhe length of the tube, 7, and consequent spacing apart of the two ball-bearing members, 8, thereon, is such relatively to the spacing apart of the outer ball-race members, 6, as they are positioned by their pressed-in engagement in the bosses, 2, so as to accommodate the bearing balls between said counterpart members at the two ends, as seen in lFigure 2, without pressure upon the balls or lost motion in the bearings. That is to say, the structure comprising the two dished stampings assembled together described, is not to be spread apart at the center by the interposed axle member with ball bearings, but, on the contrary, is accurately dimensioned by the process of construction with respect to the axle with its ball race members and with respect to the balls of the same in the ball races, so that when assembled by lodging one end of the axle member with its outwardly-fac- 2 insges? ing ball-race member, in the counterpart ball-bearing` member of one of the webs with the balls between, and similarly applying the other stamping over the opposite end of the tubular axle member with the bearing balls between the two counterpart ball race members, the peripheral annular areas, l, l, of the two webs will be found lodged upon each other, ready to be secured together by the rivets, without any springing or straining of either of the stampings, and therefore without either applying pressure to the balls in their bearings, or spreading apart the ballrace members so as to leave the balls loose.

As a matter of detail in consti ction, for the purpose of insuring accuracy in the spacing apart of the ball-race members, 8, 8, on the tube, 7, that 'tube is made of a piece of flat metal in which there are rst struck up the bosses, Ta, in two rows, a short distance` back from the opposite ends respectively so that when the blank is rolled up into tubular form, these bosses constitute two series of stops a short distance back from the opposite ends of the tube. and the tube in this form is then nished in lathe or screw machine with a tool touching up the bosses, 7a, at their outer sides to form a shoulder which may be formed by the side face of the boss, against which the ball-race member, 8, may be accurately stopped when it is forced onto the end of the tube as shown in the drawings. The axle comprising the tubular member described, is completed by means of a rigid axle rod or stud axle, l0, fixed within the tube and which is thrust through the tube after the wheel is assembled with the tube therein as described, and secured to the tube by any means, as the cotter pin, l2, so that the tube is held fixed thereon. This axle rod may he the usual stud axle of a vehicle such as a childs carriage, having a pair of wheels opposite ends of such an axle, or on correspondingly situated oppositely positioned stud axles, in which case it will be seen that the axle rod mayv be terminated flush with the outer boss, 2, of the wheel, leaving nothing protruding for encounter in operating the vehicle. llhen the wheel is to be mounted in a fork, as in the case of a steering wheel of a bicycle or the like, the central axle rod will. of course protrude at both ends for engagement with the fork arms.

I claimzl. A vehicle wheel comprising duplicate web members which are identically formed sheet metal stampings, having peripheral and central annular areas and radial spoke members connecting them which are tra-nsversely dished for stiffening the spokes, and deflected from the plane of the peripheral area, said stanipings being lodged against each other and secured together at their said peripheral areas in relatively reverse position, whereby corresponding spokes of the two stampings diverge outwardly from the plane of said lodgment, and the central areas are definitely axially spaced apart, said central areas each comprising an externally projecting and an internally hollow boss, and a less protruding annular tablet encompassing the boss, the spokes at the. apex of their dished form being formed flush with said annular tablet and their interior channels merging in the` interior cavity of said tablet, the remainder of said hollow boss interior to the annular tablet being as to its inner surface uninterruptedly circular throughout.

9;. A vehicle wheel comprising two web members which are dished metal stampinga centrally apert'ured and having each an interior hollow boss about said central aperture, said stampings being secured together at their peripheries with their said dished sides and hollow bosses facing each other, whereby their central areas are spared apart along the axis; exterior ball race members fixed in said hollow bosses respectively; and an axle member havingrigidly mounted upon it interior ball race members, counterpart to and facing the exterior ball race members mounted in said bosses; said interior ball race members being spaced apart along` the axis relatively to the spacing` apart of said hollow bosses for accommodating between them and the exterior race meinlers the balls seated in said races without binding pressure or lost motion.

3. ln the construction defined in claim 2, forego-ing, the axle comprising a sleeve ou which are rigidly carried interior ball race members and an axle rod telescoped into said sleeve, said sleeve and rod having registering apertures intermediate the ends of the sleeve for disengageably pinning together the sleeve and rod intermediate the oppositely dished web members of the wheel.

ln testimony whereof, l have hereunto set my hand at Chicago, lllinois, this lst day of August, 1921.

CONRAD DAI-IL. 

